Magok Italian restaurant, lounge table & halibut carpaccio: Romaok

Has Romaok Magok changed since making Blue Ribbon 2026?

Romaok Magok is an Italian restaurant on the 3rd floor of LG Art Center Seoul, and it's one of the restaurants on the Blue Ribbon 2026 list. I've been too busy lately to make it out to Magoknaru, but I finally stopped by near Seoul Botanic Park again after a long while.

I'd actually been to Romaok once before, not long after LG Art Center first opened, and honestly it wasn't as good as I'd hoped back then. There wasn't even a show running at the time, so despite it being dinner hour there weren't many customers. This time I was genuinely curious — how much had it improved to earn a Blue Ribbon?

• taste | A Blue Ribbon 2026 restaurant known for its food
• price | About ₩80,000 for two if eating until full
• info | Discounts available for show attendees, plus collab menus tied to the current performance

How to get to Romaok Magok from Magoknaru Station

There's an indoor passage connecting to LG Art Center between Exits 3 and 4 of Magoknaru Station, so if you go that way you can stay dry and comfortable no matter the weather — rain, snow, heat, or cold. We somehow ended up coming up through Exit 3 anyway.

Inside LG Art Center there are a few restaurants you can eat at, and Romaok is on the 3rd floor. Personally I'm a big fan of Obok Suspension (Obok Susan), so I used to mostly eat downstairs.

Not long ago I got asked if I was free for a Dracula lottery ticket — a Kim Jun-su performance, no less — but of course, it was the exact day I was flying to Canada. It could have been my first-ever Kim Jun-su show, but I had to let it go and settle for a good dinner at Romaok instead.

Walking in on the 1st floor, the lobby was packed with musical-goers, everyone busy taking photos. It turned out this day was also a Kim Jun-su performance. Will I ever get to see him perform before I die?

Follow the tube to the elevator and go straight to the 3rd floor

There are a few ways up to Romaok on the 3rd floor. If you follow the passage called the 'Tube,' designed by Tadao Ando, on the 1st floor of LG Art Center, there's an elevator on one side that takes you straight up to the 3rd floor. I even took a mirror selfie there for the first time in ages, though my companion was wiped out from a cold.

If you can't find the elevator, just walk past the 3rd-floor theater entrance and keep going inward — Romaok will come into view. There's also signage pointing toward the restaurant once you step off the elevator.

Do you need a reservation at Romaok Magok on show days?

Since it was a weekday evening, I assumed it would be quiet, but I'd overlooked the fact that it was a Kim Jun-su performance day. The place was nearly full already — if we hadn't booked ahead, we'd have been anxious about a table. If you're planning dinner at Romaok before a show, I'd really recommend reserving in advance.

The signature lounge table for two

In the middle of Romaok Magok's hall there's a long table, so if a couple or two friends come, you can sit side by side and eat cozily together. Just request the signature lounge table when booking. There's a lot of stylish decor running down the center of the table, so the mood is much better than at the other tables. The place was already packed, so I couldn't get a full shot from the entrance.

First, let's order properly on the tablet, then take some photos.

What's in the Dracula Collection, the musical Dracula collaboration?

Since the musical Dracula is running at LG Art Center, Romaok's menu has a Dracula Collection too. The set for two comes with 2 mains, 1 dessert, and 1 drink.

• Eclipse Squid Ink Risotto
• Midnight Garlic Tenderloin Steak
• Blackberry Blood Ade
• Crimson Moon Semifreddo

The show runs through October, but the Dracula Collection menu is only available until September 30.

The table concept is pretty cool. The side plates looked a bit small, but the dishware is cute enough that I let it slide. The table setting was great, but with so many people around it was hard to shoot freely.

Oh, by the way — show ticket holders can also get 50% off dessert at Romaok.

Sangria and bread to start

Let's go through the menu with photos.

It felt like it had been forever since I'd had sangria. So sweet, so tasty — sangria really hits the spot.

Then the pre-meal bread arrived. Completely warm and chewy, no dryness at all — honestly really good bread.

What does the kelp-aged halibut carpaccio taste like?

Romaok Magok's kelp-aged halibut carpaccio is an appetizer that pairs halibut with the freshness of orange and grapefruit and the sharp kick of wasabi. This was our first dish.

Carpaccio is an Italian appetizer made of raw, very thin slices of fresh beef or fish, served with olive oil, lemon juice, sauce, or cheese.

• Main ingredient: The original uses lean, tender cuts of beef like tenderloin or round. These days you'll also commonly find variations made with fish such as halibut, salmon, or tuna, octopus, or even vegetables like mushrooms or beets.
• Seasoning and toppings: It's typically finished with olive oil and lemon juice as the base, along with bitter arugula, thin shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano, capers, or a mayonnaise-based sauce.
• Texture and flavor: The thin, tender texture of the meat or fish combined with the bright, savory flavor of lemon and olive oil makes it great for whetting the appetite before a meal.
• A fun origin story: It was first created in 1950 at Harry's Bar in Venice, Italy, for a regular customer, a countess who had been advised by her doctor not to eat cooked meat. It was named after the Renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio, whose paintings — on exhibit in Venice at the time — featured a similarly vivid contrast of red and white.

I'd only ever eaten carpaccio before, never looked up where it came from. Romaok's version uses halibut, so it feels extra fresh, with orange and grapefruit adding brightness and wasabi bringing a sharp kick — it was a fantastic appetizer. I scraped up every last bit of the sauce and even dipped the bread in it.

After finishing the bread, I checked out the country-of-origin labels for a moment. China really has ramped up its truffle and caviar production, apparently.

Eclipse squid ink risotto: is it too salty if ordered lighter?

Romaok Magok's Eclipse Squid Ink Risotto is a Dracula Collection main made with grilled cuttlefish, squid ink sauce, dill oil, sun-dried tomatoes, and freshly harvested Sindongjin rice. That western-style coffin shape must be the Dracula edition touch. We were told to always eat a bite of cuttlefish together with a tomato.

For reference, most of Romaok's menu is apparently designed to be paired with wine as a baseline, so there have been a lot of comments that the seasoning runs a bit strong. That's why you can request lighter seasoning when ordering. We chose lighter seasoning for both of our mains, and even though it was squid ink risotto, it wasn't salty at all — just right. If you like your food salty, the default seasoning would probably suit you fine. The combination of cuttlefish, sun-dried tomato, and squid ink was great.

Abalone pasta with geu, the dish I most looked forward to

Romaok Magok's abalone geou pasta is made with abalone steamed over kelp, garlic scapes, chorizo, geou (abalone gut) sauce, and linguine. Just the name alone had everything I love — impossible for me not to like it.

Good things deserve a close-up. The abalone was steamed just right, the linguine was easy to eat yet had great texture, the geou sauce couldn't possibly be anything but delicious, and the garlic scapes had a nice crunch to finish it off.

Crimson Moon semifreddo for dessert

We polished off the risotto and pasta in no time, and then found ourselves wanting dessert, so we ordered one Crimson Moon Semifreddo.

Semifreddo is somewhat like ice cream, but the texture is quite different. The name literally means 'half-cold' — let's look into it a bit more.

Semifreddo is a traditional Italian frozen dessert whose name means 'half (semi) cold (freddo).' It's known for its soft, fluffy texture, somewhere between ice cream and mousse.

• Soft, fluffy texture: Unlike regular ice cream, it doesn't freeze completely solid. In the mouth, the slightly frozen, soft cream melts gently away.
• How it's made: Custard cream, meringue, or whipped cream is mixed in, then simply poured into a mold and frozen — no ice cream machine needed. Because plenty of air is folded in, it doesn't harden even when frozen.
• How it's served: It's frozen in a loaf pan or ramekin, then sliced like bread just before serving, topped with espresso, fruit ripple jam, nuts, or chocolate shavings.

Since air gets folded into the middle layer, it doesn't have the chewy texture of gelato — it's actually closer to something crumbly and light. It felt like a light, slightly melted mousse cake, so I finished it in no time. The red syrup drizzled on top tasted like bokbunja (black raspberry), and the caramelized nuts on top were a great addition.

Group reservations at Romaok Magok and my verdict after returning

Once all the show-going guests had cleared out, I finally got a shot of the table seating. Apparently groups of 8–10 can also get tables combined if they book in advance.

Coming back to Romaok after a few years, the food was unexpectedly great, and good food naturally put me in a great mood. It's a nice stop for a Seoul Botanic Park outing, great for a special occasion, and even better before a show at LG Art Center. If you go with the signature or best-seller menus, it should hit the spot for just about anyone's taste.

By the time we finished eating and stepped outside, it had already turned to night. These days, once it's past 7pm, it's pitch dark in no time.